True Friendship
by Xtin2000
Summary: This is a tag to the episode 5x17 "Of Course" Ted and Barney have a little chat after Barney was pulled from the Hudson River. Absolutely NO SLASH


He was shivering, which given the fact that he was just pulled from a freezing river (of course the water was freezing, what the hell was he thinking?) was totally normal. It was really normal, yet he felt like crap.

Who the hell does something insane as jumping into the Hudson? Damn it I could have killed myself! I mean I'm alive which is, you know, awesome.

And he resisted. Resisted that lunatic piece of hotness that was what's-her-name. With the freezing water still enveloping him through his suites fabric he is also not in the least bit turned on right now thinking about that chick's "final offer". He only wished he'd be a bit warmer. His phone doesn't work (common, you're surprised after drowning it and almost yourself in a river?) He wished he could call Ted right now. It's good to have friends you can go to after getting a little shaken up. The kind cop gave him a 500$ fine and said a bit sarcastically that she hoped it was worth it.

"I hope so too." Barney answered dreamily, seeing the fireworks over the Manhattan skyline.

Yes, he really did hope so too.  
He didn't go home, it gets lonely in his flat, truth be told, and he didn't feel like being by himself right now. Instead he got into a cab, after being scolded and eventually released from the cops (it takes a while to convince these guys you're not suicidal) and told the driver Ted's address. As he finally arrived in front of his best friend's door he hesitated. What the hell was he supposed to tell him about what had happened? Hey Ted, I just jumped into a river, can we please not get into it?

He knocked on the door not caring about his entry. This was his friend after all, if he wouldn't understand, who would?

The door opened immediately after Barney knocked. "Barney come on in!" Ted said cheerfully. After looking his friend up and down however he added, " What's with the wet look dude, some kind of new fashion?"

Barney just looked up at Ted pathetically broken, and his friend changed tactics on cue. "Just come on in Barney and sit down, I'll get you something dry to change into."

Ted guided his friend to the sofa and produced a warm blanket seemingly out of nowhere, which he wrapped around his shivering frame. Ted instinctively knew that there was something very wrong with Barney and he all of a sudden felt a deep protectiveness towards his dear friend. He rushed into his room and got a pair of jogging pants, a white t-shirt, a sweater and a pair of warm socks.

"Here, I brought you something less drenched to wear." Ted said, handing over the garments.

Barney snorted "Ted, do I really look that far gone to you as to not laugh at you for wanting me to wear sweatpants?"

"Barney, you do not look far gone to me." Ted said seriously "You only look like you could use some warm clothes right now and a friend to talk to."

After looking up at his friend Barney shrugged. "Do you at least have something for me that resembles a suit?" he asked, and after receiving a look of exasperation he added "Hey, I gotta ask!"

And so, with some reluctance, Barney went to change into Ted's sweatpants, shirt and socks. I felt more awesome than he was willing to admit to finally be warm and dry again. After sitting back down he pulled the blanket back over himself and Ted thrust a cup of tea into his hands again seemingly out of nowhere. It made Barney smile a little.

"You wanna tell me what happened?" Ted asked casually, taking a sip from his own cup of tea and sitting down next to Barney.

"I was just pulled from the Hudson." Barney said matter-of-factly, not really caring what his friend would have to say about it at this point.

Ted spit his tea back into his cup and choked a little on the liquid that has made it's way into his air pipe rather than his tummy. Barney just watched him while Ted struggled to compose himself.

"What? Barney, what the hell happened to you? How in God's name did you end up in the Hudson?"

"Ted, please calm down, it's not that big a deal ok." More than anything Barney didn't want to make a scene out of this. "I just...I tried to get that weird Anita out of my head. I wasn't thinking straight. I was hot and heavy for her and needed to cool off, and the first idea I had was to head straight for the river. It sounds pretty damn stupid now, but back there it made sense to me."

Ted didn't answer at first but put his tea down and buried his face in his hands exhaling loudly. "O Barney." he mumbled and after looking up gathered his friend into a hug holding on tightly. "You are such a crackpot sometimes." Ted muttered into his friend's shoulder. A flash of his friend running up a mountain and straight into a bus passed through his mind and his eyes began to water. With a broken voice he went on "You have to be more careful ok, we worry about you, I worry about you and I really really don't want to have to go through almost loosing you again."

Barney felt a bit weirded out, but then again, this is his best friend worrying about his well-being. It was nice to have a friend like Ted, it made you feel loved and wanted. It felt like family. So instead of being appalled Barney hugged Ted back, trying dearly to suppress his tears and failing miserably. "I'm sorry Ted."

This made Ted smile. "Don't worry about it buddy, I'm just eternally grateful that you're alright."

After a while they parted again. Ted put a supporting hand on Barney's shoulder and lock eyes with his friend "I know this was about Robin Barney, and I know by now that you have a huge capacity to feel guilty as hell for things you think you did wrong and you are then always ready to do virtually anything to make up for it."

Ted paused here to get the seriousness of his message across his friends head, "It's that 'anything' that worries me the most."

"Listen Ted, I-" Barney broke in, but Ted wouldn't let him interrupt and held up his other hand.

"Please, Barney, let me finish." Ted took another deep breath and continued. "Anyway, that now said, I need you to understand that Robin wouldn't want you to get hurt. She wouldn't want to see you go down some self-destructive path or anything like that.  
You know, getting hit by a car last year hurt like hell. I was semi-conscious throughout the trip from the crash site to the hospital and my whole body screamed at me in pain. But do you know what hurt me most that day?" he asked looking at Barney expectantly. After his fried simply shrugged in return Ted went on,  
"What hurt the most was seeing you in that hospital bed, covered from top to bottom in casts and bandages." Ted's eyes leaked a few tears and his voice cracked again as he said "I would have rather been in that car accident a hundred times than seeing you so broken up and hurt.  
I care about you Barney. And so does Robin, Marshall and Lilly. We don't want to see you get hurt. And I don't care how guilty you feel about anything at all, you have no right to punish yourself for it, consciously or unconsciously. Robin will be fine, look at her, she's dating an awesome guy. She hurt you with that just as much as you hurt her with all those other girls, and still you sent them off on that super date.  
You're a good person Barney, and I hope some day you will realize that."

Ted ended his little speech but never let go of Barney's shoulder. His friend looked at him with a child like trust that could break your heart.

After a while Barney spoke up "Thanks Ted. Just... thank you." he said in all seriousness. The two friends half-smiled at each other.

"You're welcome buddy." Ted said, clapping him on the shoulder twice and getting up to go get some more tea. "You can sleep in my bed, I'll stay out here on the couch."

Barney nodded, looking into his cup of tea, lost in thoughts. He had no idea how he deserved such an awesome friend as Ted Mosby.


End file.
